Best youth batting helmets with a jaw guard

Why a jaw guard rather than a face guard

A jaw guard is a single moulded or wire piece that covers the cheek and jaw on one side of the face. A face guard is a full wire cage across the whole face. Both bolt to the helmet; they solve different problems and they annoy kids to different degrees.

The honest summary: a face guard protects more, and a jaw guard gets worn. If your kid has already taken the cage off his helmet in the dugout, the jaw guard is the compromise that actually stays on. The full trade-off is on face guard vs jaw guard, and the caged helmets are ranked on best youth helmets with a face guard.

The certification trap

This is the part that matters and the part nobody tells you at the till. A batting helmet is certified to the NOCSAE standard as an assembly. Add a part and you have changed the assembly.

So the rule is simple. Buy the helmet and guard together as one part number, or check the maker's compatibility list before you buy a guard for a shell you already own. A guard on the wrong shell is worse than no guard, because it looks like protection and can cost an umpire's approval.

One more thing to check on arrival: the date. Easton prints a certified life of five years from the date of manufacture on its helmets, stamped inside the shell. A hand-me-down helmet with a guard may be outside that window.

Which side, and what about switch hitters

The guard goes on the side facing the pitcher, which means the left side for a right-handed batter and the right side for a left-handed batter. Get this wrong and you have bought a chin rest.

For a switch hitter there are two answers. Easton's Multi-Adjust guard “can be mounted on either side,” so the Z50, Elite Max and Pro Max assemblies can be swapped over with a screwdriver between innings, which is not practical mid-game but is fine between seasons. The Rawlings Mach Adjust is sold as a right-handed or a left-handed helmet, so a genuine switch hitter is buying the wrong tool there.

If your kid switch hits every game, a face guard is the more honest purchase: it covers both sides and never needs moving.

Sizing, because the guard does not change it

A jaw guard adds no size to the shell, so the fit rules are the ones on the batting helmet size chart: measure around the head an inch above the eyebrows, match the circumference to the maker's published hat-size range, and check that the helmet does not rock forward when the kid leans down for a bat.

Two more certified options sit just outside the table. The Easton Z5 2.0 with the Universal Jaw Guard is stocked on Amazon and undercuts the Z50, but its guard is fixed to one batting side by model and the shell is a generation older, which is why the Z50 still leads here. All-Star sells its Jawline cheek guard on its own rather than fitted to a shell, so it belongs with the add-on guards rather than with the factory assemblies.

Before you buy

• Buy the assembly, not the parts. A factory-fitted helmet and guard costs about the same as buying them separately and keeps the certification intact.
• Confirm the batting side. Guard on the pitcher-facing side: left for a right-handed hitter, right for a left-handed one.
• Check the league's wording. Some leagues that require “face protection” mean a full cage, not a jaw guard. Ask before you spend.
• Look for the mark inside the shell. Especially on listings that do not print a certification line, like the Rawlings Mach Adjust page.
• A guard is not a cure for a bad fit. A loose helmet with a guard on it is still a loose helmet.